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Introduction

Sat, 07/19/2014 - 12:16pm — Daniel.Curtis

Hi,
The forum should now be active.
What you do is:
1) go to the thejeffcenter.org and login
2) go to http://www.thejeffcenter.org/forums/book-group
3) go to the Introduction topic
4) find the subscribe link and click on it
5) check at least "To Content in Book Group" and others if you wish.

Now you should start getting an e-mail every time somebody adds content to this forum. There will be a delay (I think it is up to 4 hours, but could be longer).
The e-mail structure is a bit strange and I will work on it as time permits.

This is one of the first attempts at making subscriptions to forums work, so if problems happen, you have questions, etc. Email me at dbcurtis at gmail.com.

I have been looking for a book about good thinking. After looking at several, the one I recommend is:

You are Now Less Dumb by David McRaney (2014, now inexpensive paper and kindle)

This book defines, demonstrates, and discusses several cognitive flaws, including both logical fallacies and biases/heuristics, with some emphasis on helping readers learn to avoid these problems and become better thinkers.

I like this book more than the others I have looked at mostly because I am tiring of the tone of self-congratulation that lies behind expositions of “look how stupid other people are.” We are all flawed thinkers and could use some self-improvement. (Yes, even Jeff Center members.) Some other reasons are that other books (1) too often discuss either fallacies or biases/heuristics, but not both; (2) are sometimes more like random collections of stories than a systematic organization of why our human minds lead us astray so often; (3) are unavailable at public or univ library so I can’t look at the book; (4) are too new to have come down in price.

The author of …Less Dumb had a previous book You are Not so Smart but reviewers said the second one covers the same territory with some (albeit still not enough) emphasis on self-improvement.. Look at the website also: http://youarenotsosmart.com/

Books I looked at but would read later if at all:

Freakononics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, by Steven D. Levigg and Stephen J. Dubner

How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking – May 29, 2014 by Jordan Ellenberg (Author)